Piratical EDC, Aargh mateys

[Sylvrfalcn]

Sylvrflcn, it looks similar to the knife I saw at the Provincial Museum in Victoria Canada, simialr to the knife that killed Cpt. Cook, while in the Hawaiian Islands. I want to try to get some really good measurements and photos and try to make a replica.

John, there's an original piece in the museum displays in the Castillo de San Marcos in Saint Augustine, Florida, that I very much want to replicate. It's a big honkin' Mediterranean dirk style that's typical of the early Spanish colonial period. It could no doubt accomplish various utilitarian tasks, but one look at this knife, and you know exactly what it's primary role is. The bowie may be the stereotypical American "big knife", but long before the bowie's debut, there already existed a rich culture of "fighting" knives in various shapes and forms . Not slighting the bowie at all, I just find the mediterranean dirk, Spanish belduque, American rifleman's knife, et cetera, to be interesting also.

Yvsa, got them whitehearts at a pow wow, the red ones are my favorites. Picked up some bone hairpipe beads too. No, I'm not making a breastplate or choker, the long hairpipes make good pipe stems for nifty little compact smoking pipes. Got a nice one I made with a bowl made of whitetail deer antler, fits in a leather pouch along with a leather tobacco wallet, and a small tinderbox containing flint, steel, and some char cloth. I just load the pipe, throw a pinch of char on top of the tobacco, strike a spark into it, and puff away. Works better in a blowing wind than a dadburn old Bic lighter anyday.

Sarge

 

[johngalt]

The knife that killed Cook is believed to be Spanish in origin, not sure how it got there. It really did not look all that intimedating, but it sure did it's intended job. I could not find an image on the Provincial Museums' site, but I'll continue looking. I did find a similar design on Don Foggs site, but I cannot post the image with my account. Here is the link to ckeck it out
www.dfoggknives.com/bloodwood_gent.htm . The Hawaiian's must have gotten it from the Spanish during a visit in trade, or Portugese. I really want to take a better look next time I'm there. There are several other knive I am looking forward to seeing when there. They just don't display them,it's a PC thing, just like Disney changing the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.

 

[TomFetter]

Sarge,

Here's a boat to go with your piratical knife. Wrong period (since it's a norwegian Faering, really we should be talking seaxes and axes), but it puts me in mind of a little pillaging. A new/old boat of a friend from another forum.

edited to say: dang! Picture's dead

 

[Kevin the grey]

Please don,t tell me you can hold a pipe in your mouth and strike flint to steel onto char in the bowl ? I,m having trouble getting a good spark while keeping the char on a stable platform . I can just about see you at the helm of some seaworthy craft steering with one foot whilst striking up a good bowl of prime Jamaican tobacco .

 

[Fiddleback]

Sarge, I have no idea how to use a flint and steel. I'm going to order a set from ragnar. Can you go through it? I'm not too sure how to make char cloth either, although its probably just charred cotton cloth huh? Anyway I'd like a tutorial, if its not too big a PITA for ya.

 

[Sylvrfalcn]

Kevin, that one made me grin. No, I don't have the pipe in my mouth when I'm striking, don't need a shower of sparks blowing in my eyes. If I'm on the move, I'll just stick the pipe in my mouth, take a small piece of char and hold it atop my flint, strike a spark into it, then transfer it to the bowl of the pipe and git 'r done. If I'm sitting on a riverbank, or paddling a canoe, I catch the bowl of the pipe between my knees, and with the char already in place, strike sparks directly into it.

Andy, forging firesteels out of old files is fun and easy, but Ragnar does sell some nice ones. Tutorial on flint and steel firemaking? These guys already did a much better job than I probably could, give 'em a read http://members.aye.net/~bspen/fire.html

Sarge

 

[Fiddleback]

Gracias bro. I'll check it out.

 

[Sylvrfalcn]

. . . . . Got a nice one I made with a bowl made of whitetail deer antler, fits in a leather pouch along with a leather tobacco wallet, and a small tinderbox containing flint, steel, and some char cloth. I just load the pipe, throw a pinch of char on top of the tobacco, strike a spark into it, and puff away. Works better in a blowing wind than a dadburn old Bic lighter anyday.

Sarge

I'm really not that much of a smoker (just puff, don't inhale), but it looks cool, gives me something to do while I sit and think (yes, there's times when the best thing a feller can do is sit and think), and a nice wreath of smoke is quite discouraging to skeeters.
Besides, I can use that same mini fireworks kit (the steel is not quite as long as my thumb) to get a campfire lit, so it's a backup to the full sized one in my possibles bag.

Sarge

 

[Kevin the grey]

Sarge I put all my arrows in the same hole on the target . It saves me having to buy new targets and that spot gets so worn it is easy to pull them out . L:O:L:

 

[Sylvrfalcn]

Sarge I put all my arrows in the same hole on the target . It saves me having to buy new targets and that spot gets so worn it is easy to pull them out . L:O:L:

Shucks Kevin, some of my arrows just naturally pull out easier than others.

Sarge

 

[Yvsa]

Gracias bro. I'll check it out.

As well as a bunch of others of us I imagine.:thumbup: Whenever Sarge posts a link I always check it out!
Haven't gotten one yet that I've been sorry I went too and have always found them informative as well as enertaining.:thumbup:

 

[Sylvrfalcn]

As well as a bunch of others of us I imagine.:thumbup: Whenever Sarge posts a link I always check it out!
Haven't gotten one yet that I've been sorry I went too and have always found them informative as well as enertaining.:thumbup:

Thanks for the kind words Yvsa, my take on sharing information goes something like this; If I found a sack of gold or a case of champagne, I'd share them with my friends, knowing that when the gold's been spent and the champagne drunk, the friends will still be there.

Sarge

 

[Kevin the grey]

Sarge that large barbed head would let the wind out of anyones sails . I hate to try and pull it out of a grass mat target .The pointy bodkin is similar if not identical to one I have . I picked it up at a medeval village . The gentleman only had one and I would like to scare up some more . I would like them in regular carbon steel to try and keep the price down a bit . All the carbon steel points I have seen were crudely forged or too eccentric .

 

[sogguy]

Shucks Kevin, some of my arrows just naturally pull out easier than others.

Sarge

Question: does the Ricin go inside both the cutouts or just one?

Dick

 

[Sylvrfalcn]

Question: does the Ricin go inside both the cutouts or just one?
Dick

Wouldn't want to put poison on the swallow tails Dick. They're mostly used to disrupt the charges of heavy cavalry by taking out the horses, which are lightly armored at best. Poison would serve ill, as a badly wounded horse is better than a simply dead one. A beast the size of a destrier, lashing about in a frenzy of pain, can inflict horrible damage in closely packed ranks. After the charge has been broken and pandemonium has seized the enemy's lines, the armor piercing bodkins are brought into play. The wars have been long, but the French have learned naught. They still send charge after charge of their mounted knights and nobles, only to be laid low by simple yeomen of peasant stock.

Sarge

 

[Kismet]

http://www.aginc.net/battle/

( A selection from site
The helplessness of an unhorsed knight in plate armor has been vastly exaggerated. A typical suit of Agincourt- era combat plate armor weighs about 30 - 35 kg. This is roughly the same as a modern infantryman's field pack, and it is better balanced. There are descriptions of knights being lifted onto their horses with a block and tackle, but these are either:

Humourous, and usually modern.
Fairly late tourneys, where the armor was specially built for jousting, and had essentially no freedom of movement.
A very old and fat knight. The Duke of York at Agincourt was an example.
Falling off of a horse is nobody's idea of fun. Falling off a horse while wearing armor is probably even less fun (I haven't tried it, and don't intend to.) However, remember that the knight's favorite sport was the tourney, where many of the events (the joust in particular) involved falling off of horses. While there are records of fatalities from knights falling off of their horses in tourneys, the most common cause of death was a splintered lance going through a helm's eye slits.

Mud
The key word for describing the battle of Agincourt is mud. The battlefield was a freshly plowed field, and at the time of the battle, it had been raining continuously for several days. Soon after the battle started, it had thousands of English and French soldiers and horses running through it. Anywhere near the battlefield, the mud was at least ankle deep. Much of the time, it was up to the combatants' knees. Occasionally, it reached their waists. There are descriptions of horses floundering around in mud up to their bellies.

Falling off of a horse in the kind of mud that was at Agincourt was no joke, especially in armor. Indeed, many of the deaths (including that of the Duke of York) were caused by drowning.

The mud was undoubtedly a major factor in the lopsided English victory. The barefoot and in many cases bare legged English foot soldiers were vastly more mobile than the armored French.

 

[Sylvrfalcn]

http://www.aginc.net/battle/

( A selection from site
The helplessness of an unhorsed knight in plate armor has been vastly exaggerated. A typical suit of Agincourt- era combat plate armor weighs about 30 - 35 kg. This is roughly the same as a modern infantryman's field pack, and it is better balanced. There are descriptions of knights being lifted onto their horses with a block and tackle, but these are either:

Humourous, and usually modern.
Fairly late tourneys, where the armor was specially built for jousting, and had essentially no freedom of movement.
A very old and fat knight. The Duke of York at Agincourt was an example.
Falling off of a horse is nobody's idea of fun. Falling off a horse while wearing armor is probably even less fun (I haven't tried it, and don't intend to.) However, remember that the knight's favorite sport was the tourney, where many of the events (the joust in particular) involved falling off of horses. While there are records of fatalities from knights falling off of their horses in tourneys, the most common cause of death was a splintered lance going through a helm's eye slits.

Mud
The key word for describing the battle of Agincourt is mud. The battlefield was a freshly plowed field, and at the time of the battle, it had been raining continuously for several days. Soon after the battle started, it had thousands of English and French soldiers and horses running through it. Anywhere near the battlefield, the mud was at least ankle deep. Much of the time, it was up to the combatants' knees. Occasionally, it reached their waists. There are descriptions of horses floundering around in mud up to their bellies.

Falling off of a horse in the kind of mud that was at Agincourt was no joke, especially in armor. Indeed, many of the deaths (including that of the Duke of York) were caused by drowning.

The mud was undoubtedly a major factor in the lopsided English victory. The barefoot and in many cases bare legged English foot soldiers were vastly more mobile than the armored French.

And Crecy and Poitiers?

Sarge

 

[Kevin the grey]

I have the deepest of respect for heavy weapons fighters . Especiaally those that joust or otherwise ride a horse as part of their training . They have training regimens that defy most modern men . They are still earthbound plodders compared to an archer who has the power to control flight . I imagine there are few non archers who can appreciate the poetry inherent in the flight of winged death . In truth when I talk to archers there are few who understand the perfect poem they offer to the world every time an arrow takes flight .

 

[Sutcliffe]

I never figured pirates for having anything but rusty cutlasses, marlin spikes and boarding axes.

 

[Kismet]

Wenches. Pirates got wenches.



There is a martial discipline/sport which emulates Magyar warriors involving shooting a short, horn? bow FROM horseback. It is practiced mostly in Europe, as I recall. Phenomenal athetic ability is demonstrated.

In fact, we had a Cantina member who practiced it.